Journey into the Magic of Christmas

When my kids, Holly and Brian, were growing up, we lived in an old country farmhouse that was an ideal setting for traditional holiday festivities. We always put our tree in the dining room where the windows came together in a V-shape, which made it the centerpiece of the our home. The tree shimmered with hand-painted ornaments the kids had made. Hand strung ropes of popcorn and fresh cranberries dangled precariously near the over-sized candy canes that weighed down the limbs. Mufti-colored twinkling lights encircled each crisp, green branch.

Placing the tree in the dining room was esthetically the perfect spot, there was just one small problem: the dining room didn’t have an electrical plug-in. Out of necessity, my husband and I devised a not-so-safe but workable solution to the problem by threading an extension cord from the dilapidated dining room heat duct in through the equally broken-down kitchen heat duct to a plug-in. The kids were unaware that the tree lights were being turned-on just a few feet away on the other side of the wall in the kitchen.

We’d frequently go out for the evening during the holidays and when we returned home either the kids’ dad or I would go into the kitchen and plug in the tree lights. The first time this happened, it was coincidental that the kids were standing in front of the tree.

“Oh, did you see that?” Brian asked. They huddled for a few minutes and decided the lights suddenly coming on was shear magic.

“Oh, Brian! Santa must know that we just got home!” and being the knowledgeable big sister, she added, “Santa’s magic you know!” They squealed with delight, and determined they had direct communication going on between them and the North Pole.

Thereafter, when it was time to turn on the tree lights, the kids would ceremoniously sit on the floor in front of the tree giggling, wiggling and grabbing at each with eager anticipation. Once they settled down, presto, the dining room glowed with the sparkle of lights. The kids were mesmerized with wonder each night as they took their nightly journey into the magic of Christmas.